Deceiving Appearances
by Do-Op
Summary: Dumbledore gives out more than his share of second chances, but does the new charms teacher really deserve one? She seems harmless, but appearances can be decieving, and her secrets threaten to tear Hogwarts apart. **CHAPTER ONE REVISED**
1. Of Drinks And Directions

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related insignia and characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and all associated company.  
  
A/N: Well, It's back! Deceiving Appearances made its debut as "Shades of Grey"; back when I was just getting into Snapefiction. Since then I've read, analyzed, and studied (I'm more like a Ravenclaw than even I knew) Snapefics of all kinds, including Muggle, Slytherin Rising (V. good. Go see!), and tons of others that I don't have the time to list. Well, I took SoG down at the beginning of the year, and finally had a burst of inspiration on it, so I'm putting it back up! (Yay!). I hope you enjoy, and REVIEW! I cannot stress how important that is to me!  
Oh, and **THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!** to my Beta, Tori. She's put up with far more than she should have in helping me out. I love her for the obvoius interest she took in this project. She's the greatest.  
xX Ruth  
  
  
  
_ **Deceiving Appearances,**  
Ch. 1: Of Drinks and Directions  
  
  
Malana Wells looked at the castle before her. Hogwarts - one of the few, and she could count them on one hand - places on earth she'd never dreamed of returning to. She hadn't set foot on this ground since her graduation, and had been glad to leave then. But, when Dumbledore called, mere mortals ansewred, and her tarnished family name did not afford her many choices.  
Hogwarts itself was as she had remembered it, from her last - and quite unpleasant - visit. The stone walls that had - it seemed - always stood as a sanctuary for those in need still struck out magnificently against the mountians in the background. The greyish stones that pieced together the impressive sight looked no worse for the wear of thousands of years. In some odd way, that comforted her. Even if the rest of Malana's world had turned upside down, this one landmark had not, and probably would not change.  
Dispite the beauty of what was now to be her home, and the security that it offered, Malana felt slightly tired. She rubbed her left leg absentmindedly, it had been stiff and slightly malformed for about twenty-six years. Her aunts doctor attributed the slight loss of motor skills in that leg to her epilepsy, but she knew better.  
She spent a few almost-pleasant moments wondering whether the giant squid still lived in the lake, and whether the students still occupied hot summer afternoons by trying to lure the monster into the shallows. Memories of herself and her friends pushed themselves to the surface of her mind. She, Lily and Severus sitting by the water one April morning, discussing potions, herslf trying to keep her long black hair under control. All too soon, though, she was forced to snap out of her reverie - she had arrived at the front door. The walk from Hogsmeade had gone far too quickly.  
Gathering her courage, she rapped on the doors. And waited. After what seemed like an eternity she knocked again... A sound? No, still no answer. Reaching forward, she turned the handle and pushed.  
The main hallway was empty, and only added to her discomfort. She hadn't been told where to go when she got to the school, only that she would be greeted by a teacher- of course, she hadn't been told _which_ teacher was to meet her, but she had assumed that one would be there.  
"Hello?" She asked, stepping inside cautiously. No noise, except for the noises of the house elves, hurriedly cleaning the Great Hall. She saw one of them, wearing a pair of eye-searingly bright socks (honestly, rainbow stripes?) and a lime green scarf, scrubbing the floor in front of the doors. She turned away, hoping beyond hope that she hadn't offended the little elf by watching him. They did tend to be rather secretive about their work.  
"Excuse me, elf, but we have a guest outside, could I bother you to let me past?" An icy voice asked behind her. Turning sharply, she came face to face with professor Severus Snape. The tall, swallow man was at least as surprised to see Malana as she was to see him.  
He was the same hight as she remembered, His nose was hooked, and she wondered if it had been her hex that had broken it beyond true repair. He looked much paler though, and she found herself wanting to suggest scathingly that he hadn't been outside since the end of the war, but held her tounge. He didn't seem to have gained any weight, quite the opposite, it seemed as if he had lost some of the little he had had in youth. Even the man's clothes looked the same, for the fact that he always had been one to wear black. Dispite all of her best efforts, Malana found herself wondering if he still looked relitavely the same without them, then she remembered that she was supposed to be indifferent or altogether cold to him, and managed to stop that particular train of thought before it left the station.  
"Miss Wells." Snape said, registering slight surprise. Malana nodded, keeping her face relatively passive.  
"Professor Snape." She assumed that he was the professor sent to meet her, and did not woory about her tone, as a pain had just run through her leg, and she had no trouble finding a cold tone of voice. He stiffened slightly, but kept his poker face. "It is 'professor' now, isn't it?" she asked blandly, covering her confusion. "Is it possible for me to see Dumbledore?" She asked him regally, pulling whatever of the Wells pride she had left into the statement. He looked her over, and nodded.  
"Dumbledore is in the staff room, at the moment." Malana nodded, and he continued. "If you would follow me please." He turned, and - without waiting to see if she would foolow - stalked out of the entrance hall. As neither was prone to idle chatter, especially not to the other present, the walk was silent, a chance for both to mull over their thoughts. Malana took advantage of this to puzzle over his appointment as a teacher. What was he teaching? More than likely Potions, or Astronomy or Transfiguration. No. not Transfiguration, after all. Minerva McGonagall was still here, she would be teaching that. But why return to Hogwarts? Was it possible that he also felt it the safest place to be under the circumstances? What had he said to Dumbledore to get the man to let him teach here? And for that matter, why had Dumbldore asked _her_ of all people to take over Charms classes? Not that it made much of a difference to her, she needed an excuse to leave the Lestrange family home for a while.  
Malana knew they were getting near the staff room from the noise. At first it sounded like an argument, but then she recalled that today was the Last-Day-Before-The-Students-Arrive Staff Party. Why anyone would want to celebrate the beginning of school was beyond Malana's understanding, but still, it was tradition. Snape said the password; "Sagittarius" - It had been Mel's turn to chose the password, Malana was sure - and a doorway appeared. Walking through it, she saw the staff, assembled, and wearing their best. Her aunt, Melissa Wells, hurried over to her, beaming.  
"Malana! It's been forever, dear." Her aunt swept her up into a hug, which Malana gladly returned. It was only when they broke apart that she replied.  
"Yes. A year alone in Lestrange manor was nearly enough to drive me batty." Her aunt smiled, and motioned to Snape.   
"I see you've re-met Severus." She looked unsure of wether or not to have made the comment and her frears were justified when her neices eyes narrowed slightly.  
"In a manner of speaking." Once again, all of the warmth was gone from her voice, and Melinda noticed, quickly changing the subject.  
"Come on, Mal." Melissa pulled at her arm. "Dumbledore wants to talk to you." Malana gratefully allowed herself to be steered past the entire staff room to the Headmaster. "Dumbledore would have to be in the very back of the room, wouldn't he?" She mused silently, smiling at the other professors.  
"I prefer this spot, Malana, because I can see everyone from here." Dumbledore whispered as he took her hand, then turning to introduce her. "If I may have your attention, please? We have finally managed to lay our hands on the last member of our staff. Miss Wells will be taking over for Professor Flitwick, and teaching charms to our... ahem... adorable little students." One of the staff members snorted, a medium sized, gray haired woman in blue taffeta robes, and returned to her punch. Everyone else - Snape and McGonagall excluded - smiled thinly. "And, if those are all of the introductions, I must be back to my office. I'm expecting Fudge's refusal to restart the order, and I wouldn't want to miss that for the world." He was smiling, and patted Malana's shoulder as he took his leave. Suprisingly, she found herself missing the old man's company, breif as her reinstatement to the school had been. Presently,a tall, black haired woman came up to Malana, extending her hand.  
"I'm Circe Sinastra - Slytherin - welcome to Hogwarts." Malana remebered the woman from her school days, and she did not seem to have any distingishing differences from her memory, except that her complexion looked much darker during the daytime than she always had during the nighttime lessons. "I had you in class for astronomy." Circe's voice had a distinct Italian accent, but she spoke impeccable English.  
"Malana Wells."  
"Yes, well, you should get to know everyone. This is Amanda Vector, she teaches Arithmancy, and she's taking over as Ravenclaw House Head." Malana barely remembered the happy, dark readhead, but knew that she probably should. The woman was not really overweight, but one could go so far as to call her curvy. She was about six inches shorter than Malana's 5'3", but looked completely pleased with her life. Of course, so did Malana.  
" I took over when my dad retired. You had him in classes." Amanda smiled at Malana, looking apoligetic, but honest.  
"And, over there - " Circe pointed to a corner of the staff room, "Is Zoë Hooch, and Poppy Pomfrey. Zoë teaches Flying, and Poppy is a trained Mediwizard." Poppy was currently occupied with trying to move Zoë, who looked to have gotten drunk. Malana covered her mouth with one hand, and looked away. Amanda seemed to notice her discomfort, a credit to her positon as a Ravenclaw.  
"Don't worry, Mal - I can call you 'Mal", right? - she does this every year. Keeps hoping that if she gets drunk enough, Dumbledore will let her go. But he never fires her, because she's just the best damn referee we've got." Circe laughed, and agreed.  
"Yes. She is. She saved the Gryffindor seeker during the last game of the year last term. The Slytherin team decided to try and de-broom him. Gryffindor got a nice penalty from that, which ended up winning them the game." Circe glanced back at Zoë, and a smile lit up her eyes. "She's never forgiven herself, and been getting drunk at every opportunity since."  
"But, wasn't she in Gryffindor?" Malana asked, curious.  
"Where have you been all of this time? She was in Hufflepuff." Amanda looked at her oddly. It wasn't like Dumbledore just to pluck a witch out of obscurity to teach. And one who had barely said a word outyside the common room her entire time at school! Amanda really was suprised with how self-possessed Malana was now. Oh well, people grew up, and things changed, and that was that.  
"And that's Rubeus Hagrid. Just call him Hagrid, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures, and... Hey, Amanda, are you still with us?" Amanda's head jerked up from it's earlier position - staring at the floor - and she was instantly smiling.  
"Yeah, I'm here. I was just thinking."  
"That's Amanda; our resident Ravenclaw. Always thinking about something." Circe laughed, amd Malana found herself smiling. "Ok, lets see. Sinastra, Vector, Wells, Pomphrey, Hooch, Binns, Hunter, Sprout, McGonagall, Hagrid, Trelawney... Oh, yes. Over there, at the table, staring at Zoë disapprovingly. That's Illiana Pince." The witch was wearing a sneer, and looking unforgivably at Hooch, as if she had performed an Unforgivable curse. Her greying brown hair was pulled back in a bun, and she was wearing blue-black robes. She had high cheekbones and a pinched mouth, almost as if she had just drank something sour. "She's Russian. Her husband, Alakai, teaches at Durmstrang in Bulgaria."  
"And now," Amanda called to the room, "It's time to welcome Miss Wells to our ranks." Malana looked confused, but everyone gathered around the punch bowl, and she followed. Everyone was passed a cup, and, oddly enough, Snape gave the toast. "To Miss Wells. May she find herself able to fill Fillius Flitwick's rather small shoes."  
"Hear, hear!" They all raised their glasses, and brought them to their lips. Malana, still confused, did the same, and was about to drink, when she noticed that all eyes were on her. Peculiar. It was during this thought that she happened to notice a peculiar smell wafting from her glass. It smelled... spicy.  
She took a sip, and gagged. Somewhere a flash went off, and she heard laughter all around her. Trembling, she set down the glass, and opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, as if she was talking to someone who wasn't there. When she finally realized what was going on, she laughed.  
"Was that really necessary?" She asked, placing as much distance between herself and the spilled punch as possible. From somewhere amidst the laughter and general goodwill, a hand lay on her shoulder, and her aunts reassuring voice rang out.  
"I am quite afraid so, dear; Everyone goes through this. They took your picture, you know. By tomorrow it will be developed and put inside the Staff Album like all the rest. Every staff member's gotten in there since... Oh, I don't know, 1850. Quite a large book..."   
  
  
The party raged until late into the night, but Malana was one of the first to leave, for she had to relearn the route to Ravenclaw Tower. She almost wished she could go back to the Serpents Den, but that would not happen again in this lifetime. She almost felt that she did not deserve to be a Slytherin anymore.  
"Melinda." A voice said behind her. A voice she had once loved, and then hated more than life itself, and now wished only to make peace with. But she could not.  
"I do believe, Snape, that you have better things to do than harass former friends?" She stopped walking, and forced herself not to turn around. She still had senses enough to hear the short, sharp intake of breath, and feel the realization that she wasn't going to forgive him that easily.  
"...I only wanted," He began at length, "To wish you luck tomorrow, and say that it is good to see you again." There was a pause, where Malana swallowed hard. "It has been a long time."  
"Yes, it has." She turned to face him, almost against her better judgement. "Don't call me Melinda."  
"You didn't die that day. You never had to be her-"  
"You were there, you saw what happened, ... you took part, did you not?" She snarled. She was out of practice, she never would have shown so much emotion in the old days. "I betrayed her. I led her to her death, all out of stupidity and a foolish girl's misguided notions of love. Melinda Wells died that day, and she deserved her death. Malana deserved life... and now she has it." Snape looked as if she had cast a string of curses at his pet raven, and that surprised her almost as much as her rash display of emotion before, though this time she kept it hidden. Instead, she said, almost civilly, "I must retire, Severus. I have much to do tomorrow."  
And she began to walk away.   
"Malana?" He spoke again, with a hint of a smile.  
"Yes, Professor?"  
"Ravenclaw Tower is this way."   
  
  
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Ha ha. God, I feel bad for Malana/Melinda. More revealed next chapter!

xX Ruth


	2. Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related insignia and characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and all associated company.

Deceiving Appearances

Ch. 1: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

       Her room was plain, only because she had not unpacked. She did not even bother to do so before she went to sleep, stubbornly fighting back the tears of a frustrated child. She had not known how despairing it would be to come back here, to a place where she could never retreat to; the one place she had ever felt safe, the corner of the Slytherin Common Room nearest the fire with Severus, Lucius, Lily, and Narcissa.

       She could not believe that she had allowed things to move so far from what should be. The one time her sister had spoken up, and offered to fight on the front likes to help her was Melinda's downfall and Malana's demise. 

       And he had had the impudence to tell her that this deception was not necessary! If any other option could have been taken, she would have taken it, even going so far as to turn herself in, if she could have saved Malana's life. Wasn't necessary... bah. As if he had any right to preach to her. It was him that got Melinda into this mess after all.

       No, it was her own fool of a heart.

       As much as she hated Severus, part of her still loved him, and longed to follow him around like she once had, practically worshipping his potion ingredients. The part of her that hated him sneered at the Other-Her, and another part entirely wished that she had been a muggle, and never heard of Hogwarts, or Severus Snape, or Lord Voldemort.

       It was with these petty and disturbing thoughts that Malana slept, and with them that she dreamt. And when she dreamt, she found her Younger-Self standing on the crest of a hill, with some of the people that she detested the most now, and was blindly devoted to then. They stood, from right to left: Marcus Avery, Peter Pettigrew, Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Severus, and Herself, and they surveyed the scene of chaos below. Wizards and witches throwing hex, curse, and charm alike at each other, flying through the air and thudding down to the ground, unconscious, some had for gotten their wands, and were wrestling with each other among the fray. And on the hill, the six stood hidden, watching all. 

       Melinda felt her heart harden when she caught sight of her aunt and mother, fighting against each other, neither letting past emotions disable them. Both were strong yes, but careless also. Her Aunt had chosen the light, a sure sign of death. Her mother had spoken just a little too loudly at the last victory about her memories of her sister. 

       Melinda would have gladly killed the both of them, if she had not feared what her father would have done to her when he learned. That was also a death warrant.

       She and Severus both spotted the solitary figure running from the battle at the same time, and she motioned that he should take the wretched fool, which he was more than pleased to do. Concealed by the invisibility spell, he took off at an odd angle down the hill, swerving then to attack the deserter at the edge of the forest. Melinda watched him fell her - as the hair was so long, it was quite apparent now that the foolish one was indeed a girl - with the Death Curse, and laughed.     It was cold, and empty, mocking what true laughter should be, but a laugh nonetheless. He stooped down beside the fallen woman and pulled back the sleeve of her cloak, to identify whether or not she was one of their order. Apparently she was not, because he threw the arm down, and pulled back the hood of her cloak. Melinda could not see who she was, not that she carted. The girl had died a cowards death, one she obviously deserved. 

       Pulled out of her reverie by a loud, "HA!", from Avery, she looked back to the main battle, where the Dumbledore's AURORS were pulling back. Sadly, she saw her aunt dissapparate, and her mother, also still breathing; throw one last curse at where she had been. "Good for you, mum," Melinda thought in deadpan, "Waste your valuable spellcasting energy on air."

       After the last of the phoenix forces had dissapparated, all but Their Lord charged down the hill to bring back those who were wounded, and burn those dead. Melinda went straight to Severus, who, staggaring only slightly, was walking away from the bushed where the body lay.

       "Severus, who was she?" She asked, fully ready to praise him if the fool was an AUROR and console if it was only a child stumbled onto the battlefield. His black eyes were empty, haunted, with a look in them no nineteen-year-old should ever see in another nineteen-year-old's eyes.

       "Malana." He whispered, looking stricken. Melinda watched him, wondering if this was some kind of sick joke.

       "Malana? Oh, please Severus. She's at home, miles away. She just got back from taking her app- ... her apparition test... Oh god." It was too simple. She had gotten home, discovered the family away, heard the news if the battle, and apparated into the middle if it to stop them. But she couldn't. Not when she was this new to apparition. It couldn't be.

       She tore past Severus, her heart pounding and her face paler than usual into the underbrush, to the unmoving body. It was her. Or it might as well have been Melinda; for all that her twin was a carbon copy of her older sister. Her black hair fell over her cheeks, and her wand hand was clenched tightly, her face looking like she had changed within a split second from praising god, to damning him. It just wasn't right. It never was. 

It never was. 

Never in a million years had Malana wished to relive that day, when she lost her identity in order to stay safe, and profaned her sister's name in talking it. She hoped that, wherever she was, the real Malana was not turning in her grave right now.

And with that thought, Melinda, though she was now Malana, opened her eyes to the darkness of her room. She was unaccustomed to the shadows, but felt undeserving of a fire. Why should a fire remove the darkness from her soul?

Getting up, she decided to draw herself into a good book, in the library. She preferred a book of historical orientation that she might sleep soundly with boredom. Quietly, she left through the dark common room, and, after several missed staircases, found the place she was looking for. It was late, she assumed, knowing the time that she went to bed, and Illiana would surely be asleep. Sure enough, she thought, the stern looking woman was gone, and most of the lights out, but on the far side was another person, one who often used to haunt the library at night.

       Malana decide that her best course would be to ignore him, snag a book, and leave a note for Pince that she'd return it in the morning. Quietly, so as not to disturb Snape - who was lost in whatever book he was reading - she walked through the aisles, looking for a sufficiently boring HoM textbook. She finally settled on the advanced course, which went into Middle Eastern history. Taking the volume from the shelf, she found it quite a bit heavier than expected, but managed not to drop it. Again, she strode quietly through the shelves and up to Illiana's desk, borrowing a scrap of parchment and a quill, writing:

"Pince,

Borrowed-" she checked the spine. " 'An Advanced Study of Middle Eastern Culture, 500 B.C. to present'. Return tomorrow.

Professor Wells"

Turning to leave, she found herself looking directly at a most annoyed Potions Master. She smiled to herself. The sound of quill and paper must have dragged him away from that lovely book. 

"What are you doing here?" He asked her sullenly.

"What, are you the only one allowed to have insomnia, Snape?" She retorted, gaining, without knowing, a flicker of interest on his part.

"More like a devil of a nightmare." He muttered. Malana took no interest in this though; she would not give him the satisfaction of proving him right. She just left, hoping that the book would provide the rest she needed, if she read for long enough.

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As if. Come on, should I let her get some sleep? I'm feeling quite merciless at the moment. Maybe, maybe not. At any rate, now you know a bit more about Malana or is it Melinda? lol. Yes, for those of you who reviewed this the first time round, this will be Snape/Melinda but it will take a while for either one to trust again. After all, they broke each other's hearts way back when. 

xX Ruth

Next Chapter: Quoting Shakespeare       


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